Simulations of efficient Raman amplification into the multipetawatt regime
Contemporary high-power laser systems make use of solid-state laser technology to reach petawatt pulse powers. The breakdown threshold for optical components in these systems, however, demands metre-scale beams. Raman amplification of laser beams promises a breakthrough by the use of much smaller am...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2011
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| _version_ | 1797095674232176640 |
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| author | Trines, R Fiúza, F Bingham, R Fonseca, R Silva, L Cairns, R Norreys, P |
| author_facet | Trines, R Fiúza, F Bingham, R Fonseca, R Silva, L Cairns, R Norreys, P |
| author_sort | Trines, R |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Contemporary high-power laser systems make use of solid-state laser technology to reach petawatt pulse powers. The breakdown threshold for optical components in these systems, however, demands metre-scale beams. Raman amplification of laser beams promises a breakthrough by the use of much smaller amplifying media, that is, millimetre-diameter plasmas, but so far only 60 GW peak powers have been obtained in the laboratory, far short of the desired multipetawatt regime. Here we show, through the first large-scale multidimensional particle-in-cell simulations of this process, that multipetawatt peak powers can be reached, but only in a narrow parameter window dictated by the growth of plasma instabilities. Raman amplification promises reduced cost and complexity of intense lasers, enabling much greater access to higher-intensity regimes for scientific and industrial applications. Furthermore, we show that this process scales to short wavelengths, enabling compression of X-ray free-electron laser pulses to attosecond duration. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T04:31:14Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:ce638c6f-1873-49c4-9e60-feb4448173e1 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T04:31:14Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:ce638c6f-1873-49c4-9e60-feb4448173e12022-03-27T07:35:16ZSimulations of efficient Raman amplification into the multipetawatt regimeJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:ce638c6f-1873-49c4-9e60-feb4448173e1EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2011Trines, RFiúza, FBingham, RFonseca, RSilva, LCairns, RNorreys, PContemporary high-power laser systems make use of solid-state laser technology to reach petawatt pulse powers. The breakdown threshold for optical components in these systems, however, demands metre-scale beams. Raman amplification of laser beams promises a breakthrough by the use of much smaller amplifying media, that is, millimetre-diameter plasmas, but so far only 60 GW peak powers have been obtained in the laboratory, far short of the desired multipetawatt regime. Here we show, through the first large-scale multidimensional particle-in-cell simulations of this process, that multipetawatt peak powers can be reached, but only in a narrow parameter window dictated by the growth of plasma instabilities. Raman amplification promises reduced cost and complexity of intense lasers, enabling much greater access to higher-intensity regimes for scientific and industrial applications. Furthermore, we show that this process scales to short wavelengths, enabling compression of X-ray free-electron laser pulses to attosecond duration. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. |
| spellingShingle | Trines, R Fiúza, F Bingham, R Fonseca, R Silva, L Cairns, R Norreys, P Simulations of efficient Raman amplification into the multipetawatt regime |
| title | Simulations of efficient Raman amplification into the multipetawatt regime |
| title_full | Simulations of efficient Raman amplification into the multipetawatt regime |
| title_fullStr | Simulations of efficient Raman amplification into the multipetawatt regime |
| title_full_unstemmed | Simulations of efficient Raman amplification into the multipetawatt regime |
| title_short | Simulations of efficient Raman amplification into the multipetawatt regime |
| title_sort | simulations of efficient raman amplification into the multipetawatt regime |
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